Convivium Artists

London Mozart Players

Founded in 1949 by Harry Blech, the London Mozart Players is the UK’s longest established chamber orchestra.

Known for its unmistakable British roots, the orchestra has developed an outstanding reputation for adventurous, ambitious programming. From Baroque through to genre-crossing contemporary music, the London Mozart Players is constantly exploring new venues and audiences through collaborations with artists and personalities from all over the creative scene. The ensemble has enjoyed a long history of association with many of the world’s finest musical personalities including Igor Stravinsky, Sir James Galway, Dame Felicity Lott, Jane Glover, Julian Lloyd Webber, Stephen Hough, Nicola Benedetti, John Suchet and Simon Callow.

Since its inception, the orchestra has championed new works, regularly giving world premiere performances by composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tarik O’Regan, Sally Beamish, Cecilia McDowall, Lynne Plowman, Fraser Trainer and Roxanna Panufnik, who was appointed as Associate Composer of the ensemble in 2011. The ensemble has a strong tradition of supporting new music for choirs; in 2014 they joined forces with Portsmouth Grammar School to commission a major new choral work by Jonathan Dove, For an Unknown Soldier, and in the same year performed the world premiere of Toby Young’s Love and Harmony with the London Oriana Choir.

Away from their commitment to live performances across the UK, the London Mozart Players also undertake an international touring schedule which has seen them give performances in the Far East, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain. A long relationship with classical label Chandos has led to a series of over 20 recordings, including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Clementi, Salieri and Stamitz. The orchestra featured on Naxos’ release Flowers of the Field alongside the City of London Choir, Roderick Williams and Associate Conductor Hilary Davan Wetton, which reached No.1 in the Classical Album Charts.

The orchestra regularly performs with their Conductor Laureate Howard Shelley, as well as working closely with some of the world’s eminent conductors and soloists, including Tasmin Little, Anthony Marwood, BBC Young Musician 2016 Sheku Kanneh-Mason and cellist Laura van der Heijden, the orchestra’s first Young Artist in Residence.

In 2016, the London Mozart Players relocated their home to St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, undertaking a rich programme of initiatives within the local community. Their commitment to reaching new audiences is underlined with their highly-regarded education and community programme LMP Voyager, which sees the ensemble take world-class classical music into schools, colleges, local amateur groups and areas of the community, helping to build excellence and passion for classical music through performance and shared experience.

The London Mozart Players has enjoyed the patronage of HRH The Earl of Wessex since 1988. In the summer of 2014, the orchestra began a new and exciting phase in its history, becoming the first professional orchestra in the UK to be managed both operationally and artistically by the players.